Sports gambling

A total of $95Billion was gambled on football in America alone last year. A whopping 98% or $93Billion of that money was gambled illegally through black markets or under the table deals.

This proves that the theory that making sports gambling illegal is not working. In the 2017 Super Bowl for example, only 3% of the $4.7Billion were legal bets. Take a moment to reflect on these significant numbers of one event.

Legalizing Sports Gambling provides transparency

The current government doesn’t allow sports gambling. Gambling will always occur in almost every society so why not legalize it and have the money go through registered, reliable companies instead of unreliable, dangerous ‘ally way’ deals.

American culture has many identities, one of its biggest being sports culture. This is proven by the value of the 4 major sports leagues in America. Yet, as of today sports gambling in America is only legal in the states of Nevada, Oregon, Delaware and Montana. The NFL is the largest sport league by revenue in the entire world, with MLB second and the NBA coming in third. America therefore owns the 3 most profitable sports leagues in the whole world. In addition to this, the NHL comes in 5th behind the English premier league in the United-Kingdom where Sports Gambling is legal.

This clearly shows that there is a market for sports gambling in America. Out of the 10 most profitable sports leagues in the world, 6 of them are in countries in which Sports Gambling is legal, and the only 4 leagues, which aren’t in legal sports gambling countries, are the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th most profitable sports leagues. What country is that you ask…America of course!

How would it benefit our economy?

As America is the home of the largest sports market in the world, we the People First Party think that it is logical to legalize Sports Gambling. Not only can stop the dangerous and unreliable deals from happening, but America can also profit from the billions of dollars that are currently being bet illegally in offshore sportsbooks and that America currently isn’t gaining any taxes from. By legalizing Sports Gambling, we would ensure this revenue is brought back into our country and this alone would inject an enormous boost into our economy.

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) analyzed 15 industries that capture the majority of spectator sports jobs, and then looked at the dollar value ripple effect that these occupations have on other industry in America. The results were an astounding initial $10,284, 591,093, direct $2,582,253,327, and indirect $1,395,994,375. Sport is such an important industry for our country and the People First party will ensure that we look after it and maximize its potential.

New Audiences

The People First party knows that our sport fanatics will be highly invested in their sport with or without Sports Gambling but we also know that legalizing it has the potential to turn the average fan or even someone with no prior knowledge of sports/events into an interested viewer. This will not only increase the flow of money in the American economy but also into the gamblers pockets and therefore circulate it into our communities in a transparent way.

These average fans that previously had little interest will be enticed to watch the game and could be a potential new audience of the game. This will increases revenue for many companies such as TV broadcasters, sports teams, leagues, sports betting companies and more.

With America being the biggest sport market in the world, more international audiences will look to invest in American companies, as they are the so-called ‘big dogs’ of the sports world. This, as well as the opening of new brick and mortar betting outlets and online stores, will in turn create many Jobs in America.

Legalizing Sports Gambling will promote integrity?

At the People First party, we are all about integrity. In short, corruption in sport is much more prevalent when there is illegal Sports Betting. In fact, Stefan Szymanski, an economist at the University of Michigan has researched sports and corruption and has come to the conclusion that legal bookmakers who are subject to government regulation have a valid reason to keep honesty in their transactions. Therefore, legalizing Sports Gambling would help crack down on match fixing and corruption.

Sport in America is more than ‘just a game’

America’s obsession with sport is far more than just a game. We at the People First party recognize that sport is part of our national identity and an important revenue maker for our economy. We are a nation of integrity and we want to keep integrity in sport. America has so much to gain by legalizing Sports Gambling and the People First party can make it happen.